Rennes top French city for property investment

A new study reveals that Rennes in Brittany is the best city in France in which to buy a property.

The new study carried out by online French estate agent network Meilleursagents.com ranked France’s ten biggest cities to find out which are the best for investing property. The cities were ranked on six factors: property prices, the average age of the population, the length of time it takes to buy property, unemployment rates, the property purchasing power of its inhabitants and net migration.

Rennes came out on top due to its low unemployment rate, youthful population (the average age is 31 years) and the short time in which property sales transactions are completed (on average it takes 59 days).

Property prices in the city, located at the confluence of the Ille and the Verlaine, are also set to increase by 6 per cent over the next year; a factor which is sure to catch the eyes of canny investors.

Rennes was the only city in the index to be awarded the top ranking five stars for its investment potential.

Four cities were awarded four stars – Nantes, Lyon, Paris (in spite of its high property prices) and Toulouse.

Lille and Strasbourg were found to offer medium investment potential, gaining three stars, while the southern cities of Bordeaux, Marseille and Montpellier were awarded just two stars. Bordeaux had actually topped the rankings last year, but slipped down due to a huge hike in property prices slowing down activity in the market.

Nice was the only city to be awarded one star. The capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département faired so poorly largely due to the lengthy property transaction times (90 days) and the relatively high number of people choosing to leave the city.